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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645678">Better, Now that You're here</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdermewithbooks/pseuds/murdermewithbooks'>murdermewithbooks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Narcos (TV), The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Chases, Drunken Confessions, F/M, Fluff, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Love Confessions, Medical Trauma, Medication, Sleeptalking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:13:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645678</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdermewithbooks/pseuds/murdermewithbooks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>We’re just partners - colleagues. That’s it. But then you reach forward and brush the hair away from his face, his features softening under your touch. Just partners, you try to convince yourself of that truth and hold onto it for dear life, because you know the kind of man he is - the kind of woman he prefers to share his bed with. </p><p>The kind that isn’t you.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Javier Peña &amp; Reader, Javier Peña/Reader, Javier Peña/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>99</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Better, Now that You're here</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this was a prompt request from tumblr ("I'm better now that you're here"). thanks for reading, y'all! 💜</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Sprinting down the alleyway, you struggle to keep up with Javier as he chases after the sicario you two have been tracking all afternoon. The two men weave through the crowd of innocent bystanders and you stumble to a halt, narrowly avoiding being crushed by a vendor’s food cart.</em>
</p><p>Shit, where’d they go?</p><p>
  <em>Then you spot Javier’s retreating form, the sicario no more than 10 paces ahead of him. Just as you make your way through the sea of people, the sicario dashes across the street, Javier following closely behind. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But he doesn’t seem to notice the oncoming car, nor does he hear you shout, “Javi, watch out!” He turns just as the car rams into his side, coming to a screeching halt as Javier is thrown onto the hood of the car, the windshield cracking on impact.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your heart stops as you watch his body roll off the car’s hood and land on the ground, “Javi!” You rush over to his side and breathe a sigh of relief when you hear him groan, “Mother-fucker,” his face contorted in a pained grimace. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Christ, Peña, are you alright?” you rush out in a single breath as he winces in pain. The scrapes on his face are minor, save for the large cut on his forehead. But it’s the unnatural twist of his leg that has you worried as blood starts to pool near his knee. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, I’m not alright-” he lifts his head slightly, looking at you with a scowl, “-the fucker got away,” then he lets his head fall back onto the asphalt, screwing his eyes shut on a curse while you gape at him. </em>
</p><p>He just got hit by a <em>car</em> and all he cares about is the sicario? <em>You shake your head at him, though he can’t see you through his closed eyes. </em>Oh, yeah, he’s fine<em>, you think to yourself as sirens sound in the distance. </em> </p><p>~~</p><p>“Familia de Javier Peña?” a nurse calls out to the waiting room and you rise to your feet, catching her eye instantly. She offers a small smile as you approach, “I’m his partner. Is he okay?” </p><p>“Are you (y/n)?” she asks and you nod in response, though you’re not sure how she knows your name. She turns toward the hall she came from, signaling you to follow her. You gnaw the inside of your cheek as she tells you that his surgery went well, though his leg was broken in two places and he has a couple of bruised ribs.</p><p>She walks you to a room at the end of the brightly lit hallway and motions for you to go on inside, whispering, “He might be a little…out of it, from the medication.” You’re about to ask her what kind of medication they gave him, but she turns and walks away before you get the chance.</p><p><em>As long as he’s okay</em>, you think when you pull the curtain surrounding his bed aside. The first thing you notice is his entire leg in a cast and elevated with a couple pillows underneath. You tell yourself it looks worse than it is, trying to calm the worry that’s settled in the pit of your stomach ever since he got hit by that car.</p><p>You’re surprised to find him awake - well, semi-awake since his eyes keep fluttering shut every few seconds - as you walk up to the side of the bed, “Hey, Peña, how are you feeling?” you whisper.</p><p>He cracks an eye open before the other follows suit and a corner of his mouth quirks up, “<b>I’m better, now that you’re here</b>,” he rasps, his lips forming a full-on grin as his eyes struggle to stay open. Paying no mind to the butterflies flapping around in your stomach, you chuckle lightly at the goofy look on his face while taking a seat in the chair next to his bed.</p><p>You notice a bag of medication feeding into the IV stuck in his arm and you squint your eyes to read the label on the side of it. <em>Morphine - yup, that’ll do it.</em> He groans as he awkwardly shifts in the bed so he’s practically lying on his side, facing you with a doe-eyed look you’ve never seen on him before. <em>How much medication did they </em>give<em> him?</em></p><p>He seems more awake now, though still significantly inebriated as he licks his lips, smacking them together a couple times as if trying to regain feeling in them. “You alright over there?” you laugh and his eyes snap up to you, his mouth agape like a goldfish.</p><p>“Lips are dry,” he mumbles, sticking his tongue out to lick his lips again, this time keeping eye contact with you. The room starts to grows warm and you clear your throat while digging in your jean pocket looking for-</p><p>“Chapstick?” you offer, holding the small tube out for him to take. He furrows his brow, blinking a few times before he slowly holds out his palm and you drop the object into his hand, shivering when your fingers graze his cool skin.</p><p>The look of concentration on his features is borderline comical as he tries to uncap the tube, failing after multiple attempts. He releases a frustrated sigh, throwing his head back against the pillows in defeat.</p><p>Biting your lip to keep from laughing, you stand up and take the chapstick from him, uncapping it with ease as you say, “Here, let me help you.” He looks up at you with those dark eyes of his and pouts his bottom lip, making him look years younger than he really is. </p><p>You’ve never been this close to him before - so close you count the light freckles on his nose and the tops of his cheeks. “Relax your mouth, Javi,” you whisper when he continues to pout. It takes him a second to comprehend your words, though his eyes never leave your face.</p><p>When he finally lets his lips relax, you apply a generous amount of the balm to his now-parted lips. Your face grows hot while under his curious gaze, though there’s something else in his eyes that you can’t decipher. </p><p>“There,” you say quietly, pulling your hand away from his face, but he catches your wrist with surprising agility before you can get too far. Your heart starts to race from the intensity in his eyes as he asks, “You’re not hurt, are you?” his voice an octave deeper than it was a moment ago.</p><p>Your mouth goes dry, but you manage to shake your head and he instantly relaxes, loosening his hold on your wrist but keeping you in a gentle grasp. “Good,” he nods to himself, that boyish grin once again dawning his features as he settles back into the pillows. </p><p>You go to pull your hand away so you can sit back in the chair by his bed, but then he slides his hand down to meet your palm, intertwining his fingers with yours as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Your breath hitches but he doesn’t seem to notice as he shocks you even further when he brings your joined hands to his lips and presses a soft kiss to your knuckles, leaving a stamp of balm from his freshly coated lips. </p><p>“Good,” he repeats more quietly and you have no choice but to sit on the bed next to him in order to keep your hand in his - purely for his sake, of course, since clearly, the drugs in his system have made him a bit more…affectionate than he usually is with you.</p><p>
  <em>Which is not at all.</em>
</p><p>He dozes off soon after, a peaceful smile tugging on his lips and his hand relaxing around yours, enough for you to pull away, but - you don’t want to. You find his touch comforting, leaving a warm feeling in your chest that you force yourself not to acknowledge. </p><p><em>We’re just partners - colleagues. That’s it.</em> But then you reach forward and brush the hair away from his face, his features softening under your touch. <em>Just partners</em>, you try to convince yourself of that truth and hold onto it for dear life, because you know the kind of man he is - the kind of woman he prefers to share his bed with. </p><p>The kind that isn’t you.</p><p>A light knock on the door pulls your attention away from him and the same nurse from earlier walks in, her gaze falling to yours and Javier’s joined hands resting on the bed. A polite smile forms on her lips as she walks over and checks the bag of medicine hanging at the other side of the bed. </p><p>Just as she turns to leave the room, a thought dawns on you and you quietly ask her, “How did you know who I was? My name, I mean.” </p><p>The knowing glint in her eyes only makes you more curious as she takes a step toward you, her gaze coming to rest on Javier’s sleeping form. “When he came out of surgery and I was getting him settled in this room, he kept telling me about his partner, (y/n), and how smart and beautiful she was - how he’d never let anything happen to her so long as he lives.” </p><p>Her words hang in the air and your mouth falls open, completely at a loss for words as she continues, “He seems to care about you very much, and - well, when I saw you in the waiting room, I assumed you were the woman he was talking about since you looked so worried…” She trails off, most likely because of the look of utter disbelief plaguing your features. </p><p>
  <em>Javier - he - what?</em>
</p><p>Looking back at him sleeping soundly in the hospital bed, your heart aches to know if everything the nurse has told you is true - if he really feels that way about you. </p><p>As if on cue, you feel Javier squeeze your hand in his while muttering something in his sleep. His words are garbled, but as soon as they reach your ears, time seems to stand still. </p><p>He whispers your name, then, “Te amo.”</p><p>
  <em>I love you.</em>
</p>
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